LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, Hove:
Worcestershire 464 & 205-6 dec drew with Sussex 328
Worcestershire 10pts, Sussex 7pts
Match scorecard

Worcestershire skipper Vikram Solanki is approaching 15,000 first-class runs

The weather had the final word at Hove as Sussex's County Championship match against Worcestershire petered out into a dull draw.

After losing the afternoon session on Wednesday, the draw seemed inevitable after the whole of Thursday's morning session was also washed out.

Visiting skipper Vikram Solanki passed 50 for only the third time this season, making 61, backed by Phil Jaques (40).

Solanki then declared on 205-6 ensuring an early finish just after tea.

A total of 65 overs were lost on the final two days, but Worcestershire were not prepared to declare and set their second-placed rivals a target with the pitch still playing easily and a temptingly short off-side boundary on offer.

The visitors, who began the final day on 76-2, a lead of 212, batted through until the players shook hands in late afternoon (1650 BST).

Worcestershire drop to fourth place as a result of Gloucestershire's win over Derbyshire while Sussex, favourites to go straight back up at the start of the season, are now 16 points adrift of Glamorgan.

But at least Sussex stopped the rot after successive Championship defeats had enabled Glamorgan to knock them off the summit.

In addition, they might have discovered a useful back-up seamer in opening batsman Michael Thornely, who claimed his first two first-class wickets in a seven-over spell either side of tea.

The 22-year-old may help fill the hole left by the outgoing Robin Martin-Jenkins, playing his last Championship game at Hove after announcing that he will retire from the game on 19 July after 15 years with the county to take up a teaching job at Hurstpierpoint College.

The son of former BBC cricket correspondent Christopher Martin Jenkins, who will become the new President of the MCC in October, he fittingly led the players off to a standing ovation.

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